Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, part of Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group, is in negotiations with global pension funds and investment companies, including the Canada-based Brookfield Asset Management Inc. and CPP Investment Board (formerly the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board) to sell its portfolio of road assets, said two people familiar with the matter requesting anonymity.

Brookfield Asset Management and CPP Investment Board declined to comment. A Reliance Infrastructure spokesperson was travelling and did not respond to an email seeking comment.

The group has been selling its assets across companies in an attempt to cut debt even as it expands its focus on the manufacture of defence equipment.

In November, Reliance Infrastructure agreed to sell a 49% stake in its electricity generation, transmission, and distribution business in Mumbai and adjoining areas to Canadian pension fund Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments).

In December, Reliance Communications Ltd entered into a non-binding pact to sell its mobile phone towers business to a consortium led by buyout firm TPG Capital Management.

Earlier this month, Reliance Infrastructure agreed to sell its cement assets to Birla Corp. Ltd for Rs.4,800 crore.

In late January, Mint reported that Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd (RBNL) was in talks with private equity firms to sell a stake in its 92.7 Big FM radio network.

Now, Reliance Infrastructure wants to sell its entire portfolio of road projects valued at about Rs.9,000 crore, said one of the two persons familiar with the matter. “The conversations (with possible buyers) are in fairly advanced stages and the deal is expected to be closed by next month.”

Stake sales in its financial services businesses, plans to sell the telecom towers, optical fibre, cement and road assets could net Reliance Group more than Rs.50,000 crore, Mint reported in December. This is about 44% of the group’s outstanding debt of Rs.1.14 trillion as of September 2015, according to Capitaline data.

After the sale of its cement business on 4 February, Lalit Jalan, acting chief executive officer at Reliance Infrastructure, told Mint that the group was looking to sell 49% of its transmission business and its entire road portfolio.

“We’re expecting to sign these (roads and transmission business) deals by March-end and realize the value in the next financial quarter,” Jalan said.

“…we are targeting to bring down our debt in Reliance Infrastructure to zero by March 2017 through our sale processes. At present we have Rs.16,000 crore of debt ,” he added.

Apart from the global investors, infrastructure-focused private equity fund IDFC Alternatives Ltd had also looked at Reliance Infrastructure’s portfolio of road projects, but the talks failed over differences on valuation, said a third person who spoke on condition of anonymity.

An IDFC Alternatives spokesperson declined to comment.

Reliance Infrastructure has 11 build-operate-transfer(BOT) road projects spanning 1,000km across seven states. The company has invested nearly Rs.8,800 crore in these road projects.

In BOT projects, a private developer builds an infrastructure project, operates it for a period of time,recoups its investment, and then transfers the asset to the government.

“There is interest among global infrastructure and pension funds to invest in assets which provide long-term annuity-based returns rather than double-digit growth returns. They are comfortable with investing in road assets which are operational and have no significant construction risk attached to them,” said Arvind Mahajan, head of the government and infrastructure practice at KPMG India.

Mahajan added that pension funds from Canada, the Netherlands, and Australia have been looking at investment opportunities in India.

Several Indian infrastructure developers weighed down by debt, have announced exits from completed highway projects. A change in government norms allowing highway developers to fully divest their operational projects has helped speed up deal closure.

Those looking to invest in Indian road assets include funds such as I Squared Capital Advisors LLC, IDFC Alternatives Ltd, Macquarie Group Ltd, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and PSP Investments.

The infrastructure sector saw 36 deals worth $3.7 billion in 2015—through the mergers and acquisitions (M&As), initial public offerings (IPOs), qualified institutional placements (QIPs) and private equity investments, according to data from Equirus Capital, an investment bank.

This is 27% higher than $2.9 billion from 23 transactions in 2014.

Of the total $3.7 billion, about $1.8 billion worth of equity was unlocked through the sale of road, renewables and port assets in 2015.

“Typically private equity funds have expectations of 20% plus an internal rate of returns (IRR) from these investments. Many of the assets that are on sale have reached the second phase where the risk profile has changed. The toll is being collected (on these roads), making these portfolios more attractive for global funds,” said Vishwas Udgirkar, senior director, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt. Ltd.

Reliance Group companies have sued HT Media Ltd, Mint’s publisher, and nine others in the Bombay High court over a 2 October 2014 front-page story that they have disputed. HT Media is contesting the case.